憲法訴訟法遺漏的國會少數保護

Deficiency of Protection of Minority of Legislators of Congress under the Constitutional Court Procedure Act

2021年2月5日，司法院大法官第1514次會議，就賴香伶等41名立法委員所提釋憲聲請案作出不受理決議，惟大法官除以其聲請解釋客體為國會內部議事行為，並未直接對外發生效力而程序不受理外，復在理由中敘明「其尚無明顯牴觸憲法之重大瑕疵，依國會自律原則，釋憲機關自應予以尊重」的實體判斷。然而，本案中立法院的決議縱使屬於內部議事行為，於法是否無受理可能？又，國會自律原則的界限為何，其如何受正當法律程序原則所節制？
現行憲法訴訟法固然賦予立法委員能聲請憲法法庭裁判，但在聲請解釋的客體部分，已刪除舊法（司法院大法官審理案件法）原有的「適用憲法發生疑義」類型，此將導致法規範以外的其他爭議，國會少數再無司法途徑可資救濟，若欲就國會於發生機關內部爭議時，所引發的違憲疑義得交由憲法訴訟機關裁判，現行憲法訴訟法實有必要修法加以調整。

The Petition for constitutional review lodged by 41 Legislators, Hsiang-Ling Lai (賴香伶) et al., was dismissed by the Grand Justices at its No. 1514 meeting on Feb. 5, 2021. The reason of dismissal by the Grand Justices is that the Petition is related with internal rules of session operation of the Legislative Yuan, which do not affect people’s rights and are not subject to constitutional review. While the dismissal is only procedural, the Grant Justices nevertheless mentioned a substantial reason in their decision that “there are not obvious unconstitutional defects in the rules, to which the Judicial Yuan shall defer in accordance with the principle of Congressional Self-Discipline.” Accordingly, the question is that whether the decisions made by the Legislative Yuan are definitely not subject to constitutional review, solely due to the reason of Congressional Self-Discipline? Also, what is the scope of Congressional Self-Discipline for not being subject to constitutional review? Would and how would the principle of Congressional Self-Discipline be restricted by the principle of Due Process of Law?
Although Legislators are still entitled to lodge a petition for constitutional review, under the current Constitutional Court Procedure Act, the objects for Legislators to lodge a petition for constitutional review do not longer include the type of “a government agency has questions on the constitutionality of a statute or regulation at issue,” which was included in the historical Constitutional Interpretation Procedure Act. Under the current law, the Legislators are now only entitled to lodge a petition for constitutional review when they, in the exercise of their powers, believe that a relevant statutory law is unconstitutional. Accordingly, Minority of Legislators at the Congress do not have sufficient judicial remedies to address any dispute of constitutionality if the disputes are not related with constitutionality of statutes. This essay believes that the disputes of unconstitutional decisions occurred in the Legislative Yuan shall also be subject to constitutional review, and the current Constitutional Court Procedure Act shall be revised accordingly.